The Bookworm
by goodbye world
Summary: Victoire had always stood out for her inherited Veela looks. She hated the stares, the attention, the unwarranted compliments. So she retreated into her fantasy and fiction, her books, and tried to forget about society. Eventual VictoireTeddy.
1. Chapter 1

Victoire was four the first time she noticed it. Her parents had dressed her up really pretty-like in a blue frock and taken her to a party. The guests all cooed at her like she was a little puppy and commented on how "darling" and "pretty" she was.

Victoire hid her face in her mother's skirt and hugged her leg. She didn't like the stares. Victoire spent the rest of the night clinging to one of her parents or the other.

It happened whenever they went out in public. The staring. The compliments. The attention. Victoire hated it. She resisted going out when she could, opting to stay home and watch her younger siblings as soon as she was old enough, or, when she did have to go out, bringing a book with her so she could forget her surroundings and the stares and sink instead into fantasy and fiction.

She read whatever she could get her hands on—fables, storybooks, sci-fi, classics, biography, even the dictionary once—but her favorites were always fantasy and fairytales. Heroes and quests, battles and monsters, princesses and damsels, it was all enchanting. Sure, she had real magic in her life, but there was something so much greater about the magic in her books. There was magic in the words and the love and the story, not just the spells.

Victoire wished real life could be more like her books.

But it wasn't.

And, when she turned eleven and had to go to school, she couldn't hide so easily any more. The swirling, chaotic crowd on the platform made Victoire feel sick to her stomach. She could see eyes in the churning mass, eyes staring at her. She looked down, a blush spreading across her cheeks. She wore a plain black t-shirt and jeans. Her silver-blond hair was pulled back into a simple braid. She had dressed this way on purpose, in hopes of drawing as little attention as possible. It hadn't worked.

She looked up and said goodbye to her family, hugging her parents and younger siblings tearfully. They were her fortress. Her family were the only people who didn't stare at her like she was some kind of ethereal thing, unearthly and beautiful. She didn't feel beautiful. Just embarrassed. But that was okay, within her fortress. She was safe there, from the stares and the attention. She was normal.

And now they would be apart for a year. Victoire would be stuck with all these people who were staring at her unabashedly, as if she were some kind of circus attraction.

She steeled herself, saying final goodbyes to her family and boarding the train. She hefted her things and made her way down the train, avoiding the eyes of anyone she passed on her way. She sat in the first empty compartment she found, pulling out her book and burying herself in it, forgetting herself, her surroundings in favor of the fantastic world of fiction.

Teddy found her first. She had hardly read three pages when he opened her compartment door and popped his head in. "There you are, Vic," he said, smiling and opening the door all the way. He stepped inside. "You disappeared. Mind if I sit with you?"

Victoire smiled. "Sure, Teddy."

Victoire put down her book, memorizing the page number (three hundred seventeen). Her father said it was rude to read when other people were with her. Generally she didn't heed this advice, but she liked Teddy. He was practically family, so he didn't react to her appearance anymore, thank Merlin. And, besides, she felt normal around him. With his rainbow hair and constantly shifting appearance, he drew more stares than she did. Standing next to Teddy, Victoire could feel average.

"So," Victoire began eagerly as Teddy got settled. "What's Hogwarts like?" She really wasn't quiet, as anyone in her family could tell you, but around people outside of the extended Weasley clan, she retreated into herself, embarrassed.

Teddy grinned. "Most of the time it's fun," he said. "But it's still school. There's homework and teachers and History of Magic. Oh, but you'll love it, Vic. It's a huge castle, like in one of your books, and so much magic you can hardly believe it. And just wait until you see the library. You'll die, guaranteed."

He laughed and she joined him. Oh, this was so exciting! Teddy made her tension disappear so quickly.

Then the compartment door opened again and two girls and a boy looked in. The boy greeted Teddy familiarly.

"Vic, you don't mind if they join us, do you?" Teddy looked at her earnestly, pleadingly.

And how could she say no? So she nodded.

Teddy gave her his biggest grin. "Great! So this is Jacob Larsen"—he gestured to the boy, who had brown hair and eyes, along with a smattering of freckles across his nose—"Mary-Anne Johnson"—a tall girl with blond ringlets and grey eyes—"and Lara Hiccup"—a short, snub-nosed brunette. "Guys, this is Victoire Weasley."

They all greeted her cheerfully enough and she smiled back.

But Jacob was staring at her in awe and Mary-Anne kept shooting her accusing glares for no apparent reason. Victoire sighed internally, no longer excited about Hogwarts. It wouldn't be different. Merlin, she wasn't even there yet and she was already getting stared at. Seriously. She was such a freak, no matter how pretty everyone else called her.

So she picked up her book again, opened it to page three hundred seventeen and read for the rest of the train ride, forgetting her manners once again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 for Victoire! You know, I think I need to stop posting things on Mondays. I'd get so many more reviews on a weekend. But Mondays just have so much inspiration (aka procrastination of homework) for me.**

**And you're reading this, right? So you want to give me a review when you finish, don't you? Even if I did post on a Monday?**

Once they arrived at school, Victoire said goodbye to Teddy and headed over to calls of "Firs' Years" from Hagrid. She was one of the first to arrive. A girl introduced herself immediately and struck up a conversation with Victoire. Victoire thought it was nice and tried to respond adequately, but secretly she wondered if the girl would have spoken to her if she'd been ugly.

She tried to destroy thoughts like these, really, she did. But… she couldn't help it. She knew most things she was given outside of her family were because of her looks. She wasn't stupid. And she didn't see this girl (Alyssa Bones) going up to any of the other first years and introducing herself. Victoire looked down, feeling guilty.

She shared a boat with Alyssa and two boys and they made their way to the castle.

Teddy was right about that one. It was large and lit up and just magnificent, straight out of a fairytale. Victoire sighed. _This_ was magic, to her. Not any of those fancy spells or little tricks. Just this. The sight of Hogwarts castle at night, from the lake, among the stars. It almost didn't seem real. But, oh, she knew it was.

Soon enough they were within the castle, surrounded by great stone walls and ceilings so high Victoire could barely see them. She probably looked like a Muggle with all her ogling, but, really, who cared? It was too beautiful not to stare at.

Oh. Well, crap.

She certainly hoped people didn't use that reasoning with her.

But, no, it wasn't precisely because of the beauty, she decided. It was the magic again. That was what made it so awe-inspiring. It was like some sort of energy held within every fiber of the place that drew her eyes to stare. A shadow of the very heart of Hogwarts was visible in its walls and architecture, and that was the magical, beautiful part.

They entered the Great Hall, and the ceiling was starry. Magic. Victoire craned her neck to see better, knowing she looked like an idiot.

Then the Sortings began and she put her head down, waiting. Alyssa was Sorted into Hufflepuff. Victoire's was the third-to-last name called. She walked up, head down. Now the entire Great Hall was staring at her. As if it wasn't bad enough already. The Sorting Hat was placed upon her head. She heard it mumbling unintelligibly a bit, then, around ten seconds later, it cried, "RAVENCLAW!"

She stepped from the stool and headed to the Ravenclaw table. On the way, Teddy caught her eye and flashed her a thumbs up. She smiled lightly. Trust Teddy to make her feel better and forget the stares.

Victoire sat at the Ravenclaw table and watched the two remaining Sortings ("Wiles, Evan" got Slytherin and "Wood, Trisha" was in Gryffindor). Another first year next to Victoire introduced herself as Darcy Everbloom and struck up a conversation with Victoire. Victoire was wary at first, but Darcy seemed nice enough and she talked to everyone around her equally. Actually, Darcy talked nonstop. Victoire could hardly keep up with the rapid flow of words; conversation topics popped up one minute and were discarded for others seconds later. All Victoire had to do was nod and smile, and perhaps throw in an interjection in the right place. It was nice, easy, so Victoire spent the rest of the feast listening to Darcy's yammering.

When they retreated to Ravenclaw Tower for the night, Victoire fell right to sleep.

-:-

Victoire was glad for the school uniforms. In her robes, she felt like she could almost blend in with the rest of the student body. She kept her hair pulled back in a braid and tended to slump over to hide herself better, as well, but still she felt conspicuous.

In classes, she knew most of the answers to the questions the teachers asked, but she was too shy to call attention to herself by raising her hand and answering. Instead, she kept her head down and took copious amounts of notes.

When she wasn't in classes, Victoire visited the library to check out books. She never read in the library, though. There were too many people there, and, even though it was nearly silent, she could feel them looking at her and it made her want to scream. But that would draw attention to her, so instead she brought her books to the Astronomy Tower, which was deserted during the daytime. Usually she sat inside and immersed herself in fantasy lands so much more magical than the real ones but, sometimes, when she couldn't suspend her imagination, she would go out and sit on the ramparts, dangling her legs over the edge of the tower, and watch the rest of the people move around on the ground like ants.

And, soon enough, first year was over and it was summer again. She relished in the return of her fortress, so she could hide safely away from the world. With her family, she was protected from the stares and she could just be Victoire, rather than the part-Veela girl. She let her hair slip out of its braid and wore bright colors and dresses. Hours and days were spent playing and laughing with her cousins, perfectly happy and boisterous.

But, like a dream, summer slipped out of her grasp all too quickly.

In late August, she was playing cards with Molly and Roxanne at the Burrow when, suddenly, Molly said, "Victoire, you have really pretty eyes, doesn't she, Roxy? They're so blue… like magic crystals or something." Molly was smiling, and Victoire knew that she meant to be nice, but inside, Victoire was horrified. Someone in her own family had just called her eyes pretty! Her fortress had been infiltrated! What was she going to do? With her family, she had always been able to be just Victoire, and she didn't want them to start thinking she was pretty. What if they came to only like her because of her looks or something? No, Victoire wouldn't accept this.

When she got home, she asked her mother for glasses.

Fleur's brow furrowed. "But, you have perfect eyesight, honey. You don't need glasses."

Victoire looked down. "I _want_ them, though." Glasses would be another barrier between her and the outside world, another way to hide her face from them. She hoped it would help.

Her mother sighed. "All right. We'll go out tomorrow and get you a pair."

The next day, Victoire locked herself in the bathroom with her new glasses. She braided her hair simply, settled the black-rimmed frames upon her nose and looked in the mirror.

It was an improvement, to be sure. Her eyes were slightly obscured by the glasses and the overlarge frames hid a fair amount of her skin.

Still, though, she didn't know if she looked ugly. Or at least normal.

Well, there wasn't much she could do for the time being. And this was better than nothing.


End file.
